Attenuation of an adjuvant arthritis by type II collagen.

Subcutaneous injection of the nonimmunogenic synthetic alkyldiamine, N,N-diotadecyl-N',N'-bis(2-hydroxyethyl) propanediamine (CP-20961), which possesses potent adjuvant properties for cellular sensitization, can induce an inflammatory arthritis in rats. To study whether a host reaction to native type II collagen plays a role in the pathogenesis of the arthritis in this model, CP-20961-injected Lewis rats received i.v. on four occasions native type II collagen coupled to syngeneic spleen cells with ethylcarbodiimide (CDI), native type II collagen added to spleen cells without CDI, or native type II collagen coupled to rat red blood cells (RBC) with glutaraldehyde. There was a significant suppression of the severity of arthritis in all three groups compared with a control group injected with CP-20961 but not receiving cells. In addition, the prevalence of arthritis was decreased in the group receiving native type II collagen-coupled RBC. Injection of cells coupled to denatured type II collagen, native type I collagen, and ovalbumin did not affect significantly the morphologic aspects of this disease. These data provide evidence that material possessing the quaternary epitope(s) of type II collagen functions in an as yet unidentified effector pathway in this adjuvant arthritis.